If Stanford comes back from San Antonio in April with another national title for head coach Tara VanDerveer, it might just be down to destiny.

Many years ago, a young VanDerveer was roommates at Indiana University with a girl named Pat Gold. Now, with a long and storied career already behind her, VanDerveer is in charge of the second-best women’s basketball team in the country, and the daughter of her former roommate and Austin Onwude is one of her brightest stars.

VanDerveer was unaware of the connection when redshirt senior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude first came to the Farm from Queens, N.Y., but it has played a part in her time here.

“There’s definitely a connection,” VanDerveer said, “And in some ways I think it’s helpful for me in coaching Ros.”

At the start of the Pac-10 season this year, the Cardinal suffered from injury troubles, especially amongst the guards. Though a talented player, Gold-Onwude had not showed the consistency and level-headedness that VanDerveer had wanted in previous seasons, but in this “guard vacuum,” something clicked.

“Personally I think she is the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year,” VanDerveer said.

“When she’s focused there’s no one [who’s] gonna score on her,” VanDerveer added. “She’s a pit bull, and I mean a good pit bull. She’s just not going to let them do what they want to do, and I love it. I want it to rub off on more people on our team.”

In her senior year Gold-Onwude has become an indispensable figure among the starting lineup. Her defense is rock solid, holding top scorers from the Washington schools and Oregon to a combined total of just 14 points in recent games. Her own average of 9.0 points per game since January is double the 4.5 she achieved in previous seasons.

“I think it’s just Ros growing up, Ros becoming more mature,” VanDerveer said. “I think she had some spurts [in previous years] of just some great games. For us to go to the Final Four two years ago, a lot was to do with Ros.”

Sporting stitches above her right eye from a hard-fought game against Washington, the enthusiastic and grown-up Gold-Onwude was clear about her performances in the last few months.

“Confidence–that’s the only thing that’s changed,” Gold-Onwude said. “Not only do I believe that I can do it, I’ve shown myself that I can do it and now I expect to. And it’s not just always on a scoring level, but just coming out there and just being a basketball player. Someone you have to reckon with, whether it be on defense, offense.”

The longest-serving member of the current squad, she is in her fifth year at Stanford, having been forced to redshirt her sophomore year with a torn ACL. At the time, the year sitting on the sidelines was a tough proposition for a clearly competitive and central member of the team, but it was a defining moment in her collegiate career.

“I remember being really disappointed,” Gold-Onwude said, “But [there were] two silver linings in that cloud…I think I’m a better player and a better person from it. After all the things I’ve learned and my time here at Stanford I feel like there is nothing I can’t conquer or nothing that can defeat me. I’ll never give in.”

In her first three years here, Gold-Onwude was lucky enough to play with arguably the best player ever to grace the hardwood of Maples Pavilion–Candice Wiggins ’08–and that experience helped turn her into the tough and resilient defensive player she is now.

“Ros was one of the few players on the team who didn’t back down from Candice,” VanDerveer said. “They would get after it and be scrappy, and they kinda played chippy, which is a good thing.”

“She knew that if she guarded Candice in practice, there was not going to be anything harder in the game,” VanDerveer added.

National title or not, in less than two months Gold-Onwude’s collegiate career will be done and dusted. With both a bachelor’s and master’s degree under her belt, and with the experiences and contacts she has built up in her time on the Farm, she is excited about her next steps.

“I have a job offer or two now,” Gold-Onwude said, “And always you know for every hooper there’s a little bit of hoop dreams, so I may consider going overseas.”

If Gold-Onwude does hang up her boots professionally, VanDerveer is sure that basketball will still be an important part of her future, if only as a release for her energy and enthusiasm.

“I would hate to be playing in that rec gym and she shows up,” VanDerveer said, “Because all of a sudden someone’s going to be guarding you. It’s not just gonna be running up and down having fun.”

Whatever happens, Gold-Onwude will remain a great ambassador for Stanford and for the women’s basketball program.

“This year has been the best year of my Stanford career,” Gold-Onwude said, “Not only on a personal playing level, but just with my teammates and my coaches, and I’m just so thankful for them being in my life, and I’m going to treasure this year.”

But it’s not over yet.

“I hope it doesn’t end until the championship game,” she added.